March 23, 2006

Algeria Bans Muslims from Learning About Christianity

The Algerian parliament has approved a law banning the call to embrace other religions than Islam.

This law states to jail anyone "trying to call on a Muslim to embrace another religion," in remarks to the Christianizing (evangelize) campaigns taking place in the country.

The Algerian Ummah council (Senate) approved this decision on Monday. This decision which was approved by the national people's council ( parliament) on March 15th is an attempt to withstand the Christianizing campaign which had witnessed a notable activity recently especially in al-Qabayel area east of the country.

The ratified law stated to sentence imprisonment for two to five years and a fee between 5 to 10 thousands EURO against "anyone urging or forcing or tempting, to convert a Muslim to another religion."

The same penalty applies to every person, manufacturer, store or circulate publications or audo-visual or other means aiming at destabilizing attachment to Islam.

The law also bans practicing any religion "except Islam" "outside buildings allocated for that, and links specialized buildings aimed at practice of religion by a prior licensing."

The deterioration of the image of Islam during the crisis has played its part in this rise of conversions to Christianity and the adoption of its principles. What is happening and what has happened in Algeria, such as the massacres and killings in the name of Islam,1 has [sic] led many, when asked what the difference, in their view, was between Islam and Christianity, to declare: "Christianity is life, Islam is death." For Samia, a secondary school pupil, the proof of the difference between Islam and Christianity was the mixing and relationship between the sexes, the former forbidding it, and the latter allowing it.

Comments

This is different from the Turkish law that forbids proselytizing of any kind for any religion, which sounds like an anti-harassment law in what is a politically very sensitive area; this sounds like desperation.

"Here the good senator demonstrates his abject ignorance of the Middle East, not to mention Islam: throughout the region (from Morocco to Egypt to Syria to Iran, as well as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states) it is forbidden to renounce Islam and embrace Christianity, or any other religion for that matter. This is true even in relatively liberal Muslim societies, such as Malaysia. Even in Turkey, which prides itself on its European character, and where it is legal to convert away from Islam, it is still so socially unacceptable that only a few have chosen to change the religious designation on their identity papers. The idea of religious freedom is a historically specific, geographically delimited concept, one that is consistently applied only in the West, and there only since the Enlightenment; for much of the rest of the world, especially including the lands dominated by Islam, this is an utterly alien idea."